Sir, - Joe Foyle (July 4th) claims to speak for Irish people when he states that abortion kills people. He does not speak for me. I always understood that abortion kills a foetus.
I note also that Father John M. Cunningham (July 4th) talks of a defenceless unborn child, when he really means a foetus. Two men mouthing off about an issue that mainly concerns women, and using false definitions to bolster their ignorance.
Does either of them, or anyone else in the anti-choice lobby, seriously think that any woman takes such a step lightly? Or that any woman is not aware of the difficult decision she has to make about her own body, her pregnancy, and the risk she runs? How dare they lecture women about a most intimate decision in their lives? How dare anyone prevent a woman from making a reasoned decision about her own body and her own life? And finally, the hypocrites in this issue are those who would try to prevent abortion taking place in Ireland, knowing full well that our liberal neighbour will pick up the tab and do our "dirty" work for us.
It was the death-toll from back-street abortions that caused the UK and other European countries to provide abortion facilities. We have a duty to look after our own women, and not depend on the English to do so. Ireland will not be a truly independent nation until it has the courage to deal with its own abortion problem. - Yours, etc.,
Muredach Doherty, Lower Beechwood Avenue, Dublin 6.